Gate.



No. 706,413. Patented Aug; 5, I902..

T. A. HILL.

GATE.

Applicatinn filed Feb. 13, 1902.;

(No Model.) v 2 Sheets-Sheat I.

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G A T E.

[Application filed Feb. 13, 1902.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

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UNrrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TERELIUS ALLEN HILL, OF MARYVILLE, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNQR OF ONE- I HALF TO VERNENDO B. MOCLUNG.

GATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 706,413, dated August 5, 1902.

Application filed February 13, 1902. Serial No. 93,84 4- (No model.)

To (all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, TERELIUS ALLEN HILL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Maryville, in the county of Blount and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and nsefullmprovements in Gates; and I do here: by declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates particularly to gates embodying provision for opening by the weight of avehicle approaching the gate and for similarly closing the gate by the weight of the vehicle after the latter has passed through the gate.

The object of the invention is to produce such a gate which may be cheaply made and having mechanism adapted to operate with small expenditure of power.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation looking in the direction of the passage through the gate. Fig. 2 is a plan. Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the lower portion of the hinge mechanism shown in Fig. 1. Fig. i is a sectional elevation of the same mechanism, the section being taken between the hinge-shaft and the adjacent upright of the gate looking away from said upright. Fig. 5 is an enlarged side elevation of the latch mechanism. Fig. 6 is an enlarged side elevation of one of the tripping mechanisms. Fig. 7 is a sectional elevation showing in detail the positions of the locking-levers of the mechanismillustrated by Fig. 6. Fig. Sis a horizontal section showing the crossarm and links applied to the hinge-shaft. Fig. 9 is a detail view showing the swivel connection between the upper end of the hingeshaft and the spring for swinging the gate.

Referring to said drawings, A i'sthe gate proper. This is shown composed of the top rail A, bottom rail A outer upright A and inner upright A.

B is a post to which the gate is hinged. Said post has horizontal brackets 13 and B and the gate A has horizontal brackets a and a A hinge-sha ft 0 extends through said brackets shaft.

and serves as a vertical axle, upon which the gate swings. The bracket a rests upon the bracket B, and thus the said bracket B is made to sustain the gate vertically. From the lower end of said shaft upward to a point just above the upper face of the bracket 13 said shaft is made in polygonal or other noncircnlar form, and immediately above said bracket B a washer C apertured to conform to the polygonal or other non-circular crosssection of I said shaft, surrounds said shaft. The portion of said shaft immediately above said washer being too large to pass through said washer said shaft is supported vertically by said washer, and since said washer rests upon said bracket B it follows that said shaft is indirectly vertically sustained by said bracket. The upper end of said shaft 0 is bent laterally, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, at an angle of about forty-five degrees to the vertical plane of the gate at the side of said gate opposite the direction in which the gate is to swing. From the end of said shafti'husbent laterallya contracting spring D extendsaway from said shaft to the top rail A and is suitably secured to said top rail, as by a staple D. Said spring is so adjusted, as todraw or tend to draw the gate laterally toward the upper end of said shaft. In order that the tension of said spring D may be varied, any suitable adjusting device may be applied to said spring. The drawings show a combined swivel and adjusting device applied to the upper end of said shaft and used for the double purpose of connecting the spring to said shaft and for adjusting the tension of said spring. 0 is a swivel-post secured vertically in said through said swivel-post, the nut c of said eyebolt being at the side of said post opposite the spring, and the spring being secured An eyebolt 0 extends horizontally pliedto said gate tending to open it when it is not intended that the gate shall be'o'pened. Without such latch mechanism the maintenance of the closed position of the gate would depend solely upon the effect of the spring D. E is a hook extending laterally from the post E'andextending past and directed toward the adjacent end of the gate. Said hook has the inclined face e. w

E is a bracket extending from the upper portion of the upright A horizontally away from the direction of the hinge of the gate. E is a staple-form guard'applied to said upright A at some distance beneath the bracket- -E A vertical latch-bar E is hinged by its upper end in said bracket E and has its lower end extending vertically through said guard, so that the lower end of said bar can swing toward and from the adjacent upright of the gate. From any suitable point between the ends of the spring D a cord E extends in the direction of the latch and passes through said upright A and thence to said which it is fastened.

Any suitable means may be employed forpressing the lower end of the latch-bar out wardaway from the upright A into engagement with the hook E. The drawings, Figs. 1 and 5, show for this purpose an expanding latch-bar, to

coil-spring E, placed horizontally around the cord E between'said bar and said upright. When thus placed, said spring needs no other support or fastening than said cord.

When the gate is closed, the shaft 0 is turned so that its upper end is at the same a side of the gate with the post E, so that the spring D pulls the gate toward said post.

When the gate is to beopened, it must swing in the direction of the arrow (see Fig. 2) to the stop-post F. To accomplish the shifting a of the gate, two movements must be effected.

First, the latch must be released, and, secend, the spring D must be shifted so as to draw from the side of the gate which is directed toward the post F. Both of these movements are effected by turning the hingeshaft 0 in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 2, through one-half of a rotation, so that the ups per'end of said shaft will stand at an angle of forty-five degrees to the plane of the gate" at the opposite side of said plane, the acute angle being the farther from the post E. During the first part of the rotation of said shaft the spring D is sufficiently extended to draw thelateh cord E and thus release the latchbar'from the hook E. Then the gate is free to swing in response to the action of the spring D. The gate now moves until the latch-bar meets the inclined face f on the hook F on the post F, said hook and post being similar to the post E and hook E. Said inclined face turns said, latch-bar toward said upright A until said inclined face has been passed. Then said bar again moves outward, and the further movement of the gate is arrested by the post F. The spring D then continuesits strain upon the gate toward the post F so long I shaft 0 is actuated by'mechanism adapted to turn saidshaftfrom its position of 'rest until its upper end is turned rearward beyond the plane of the gate. From that point the tension of the spring D will serve to carry the shaft finally to its new position; As a means for effecting such, rotation of such shaft I show a cross-arm G applied to said shaft near the lower end of the latter. Said arm is preferably composed of two superposed sections G G suitably separated and connected at their outer ends by vertical pins G Said cross-arm may, however, be composed of a single piece suitably notched to receive the pins G or otherwise provided with means for attaching links G Avertieal apertureconforming in cross-section to the cross-section of said shaft extends centrally through said cross-arm and receives said shaft, so that said shaft and cross-arm must rotate in unison. Wires or cords G5 are applied to the links G or directly to. the'pins G, as shown in the lower portion of Fig. 8. By drawing said wires to the right or to the left, as viewed in Fig. 8, said cross-arm may be rotated sufficiently to carry theupper end of said hingeshaft across the plane of the gate. A crosspin G passing through the shaft 0 below the cross-arm G, holds the latter in place. By removing said ci'oss-pin the shaft 0 is left free to be drawn upward through the cross-arm and the brackets B, B a,and a for the removal of the gate. The lower part G of said cross-arm may be elongated in the direction of the free end of the gate sufficiently to ad apt it to beanagainst the post B when the shaft 0 tends to go beyond the desired limit of movement. v

I The wires or cords G are operated by trip mechanismslocated beside the driveway at each side of the gate. (See Figs. 2, 6, and 7.)

H is a crank-shaft arranged transversely to the' driveway in bearings H. Between said bearings said shaft rises a suit-able dis-. tance for engagement with a carriage-Wheel,

IIO

so that a wheel in passing will press said rising portion laterally and downward into'the' horizontal position, whereby said crank-shaft is given a one-quarter rotation. The end of said crank-shaft which is directed away from the driveway is extended beyond its hearing and: is loosely surrounded by a rocking lever H similar to but longer than the cross- .arm G. The wires G leading from the cross arm G, are attached directly to the pins H or to the links H, which links are attached I to the pins H Obviously any suitableconnection between said wires and said rocking lever will answer the purpose. Said rocking lever stands normally at an angle of fortyfive degrees to a line e'xtending'from theaxis of said lever to the cross-arm G, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. As indicated in the latter fig ure, saidrocking lever may stand in twof'po-v sitions, eitherlone of, which is at an angle of forty-five degrees to said line. It will be readily understoodthat the shifting of the position of said rocking lever will draw one of the wires G and the drawing of said wire will partially rotate the cross-arm G and the hinge-shaft O. A loose connection is preferably made between the crank-shaft H and the rocking lever H whereby said rocking lever may be actuated without rotating said crank-shaft. This is for the purpose of permitting the bent portion of the crankshaft to assume the vertical position after the rocking lever has been shifted without again shifting said lever and for the purpose of per mitting the operation of one crank-shaft H without rotating the other crank-shaft. For making. engagement between said crank-shaft and said rocking lever I apply to said shaft a yoke 1, said yoke being adapted to engage said rocking lever during the fractional rotation of said crank-shaft. Said yoke is preferably composed of an angle-arm I, extending loosely and transversely through the crankshaft at 72 and passing said rocking lever parallel to said crank-shaft and having an eye at 1', arranged radially to the crank-shaft, and a hook-bolt 1', extending through said eye and through the crank-shaft at l and provided with a nut 1 located at the side of the arm I opposite said crank-shaft. By turning said nut the angle-arm I may be moved nearer to or farther from the crank-shaft, so that said arm may move more or less without engaging said lever. The normal position of said angle-arm is shown in Fig. '7. When the crankshaft H is turned toward the left by the passing of a wheel, said angle'arm is carried upward through a quarter of a circle along the path indicated by the dotted line, and when said crank-shaft is again released the spring J returns said crank-shaft and angle-arm to the normal position. If said crank-shaft is turned toward the right by the passing of a wheel toward the right,the an gle-arm is turned downward through a quarter of a circle in the path indicated by the dotted line. If the rocking lever is in the position a, a and the carriage-wheel moves to the left, then the angle-arm engages the rocking lever as soon as the small space between said arm and lever is closed, if there be such a space; but if the carriage-wheel moves to the rightthen the angle-arm will pass downward to its lower limit, and if the rocking lever is in the position shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 7 then when the carriage-wheel moves to the left the angle-arm moves to its upper limit without engaging the rocking lever. By turning said nut against said angle-arm the latter is moved toward the crank-shaft and nearer the rocking lever. By turning said nut in the oppohas been depressed.

mechanism attached to the yoke 1 and-drawing horizontally will answer this purpose. A spring J is attached to the hook-bolt I at J and to a post J by means of an eyebolt J extending through said post and having a nut J at the side of said post opposite said spring. By turning said nut the tension of said spring may be varied.

The distance through which the latch-cord is drawn may be varied by varying the point of attachment between said cord and the spring D. It will be understood that the range of movement of each coil of said spring increases from the point of attachment to the gate toward the upper end of the hingeshaft.

Attention is directed to the fact that by my relative arrangement of the gate, stop-post, latch-hook, and the spring D the movement of the hinge-shaft 0 when the gate is to be shifted first gives the gate an abrupt pull toward the stop-post, whereby binding be tween the latch-bar and said hook is relieved.

K is a sail secured rigidly to the gate by means of a bar K. Said bar and said sail are high enough to clear the post F and the horizontal fence hoards L applied to said post. The area of said sail is such as to cause the wind-pressure thereon to approximately equal the wind-pressure upon the gate proper to the end that whatever wind may be blowing at the time the gate is to be shifted will to the least possible extent affect the free movement of the gate in response to the spring D.

An important feature of my improvement is the arrangement of the mechanism by which the spring when the gate is to be shifted first draws in the direction opposite the direction in which the gate is to be shifted. It will be observed that the swivel-post which supports one end of the spring moves away from the front or free end of the gate toward the rear or hinged end of the gate and tightens the spring more and more and finally carries that end of the spring across the plane of the gate. Thus the spring does not draw at all upon the side toward which the gate is to be swung until the spring has been placed under maximum tension.

1 claim as my invention-- 1. The combination with a gate secured by a vertical hinge to an upright post, of a spring connected to said gate, and means for shifting the direction of the action of said spring from one side of the plane of said gate across said plane prior to the movement of the gate, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a gate and a hinge-post, said gate being secured to said post by a vertical'hinge, two stop-posts, a spring applied to said gate, and mechanism for shifting said spring from one side of the plane of said gate to the other prior to the movement of the gate, substantially as de scribed.

3. The combination of a gate and a hingepost, the gate being secured to the post by a vertical hinge, stop-posts, a spring applied by one end to the gate, and means for shifting the other end of said spring rearward from one side of the plane of the gate to the other, substantially as described.

4. The combination of a gate, a hinge-post and a vertical hinge-shaft joining said gate and said post, the upper end of said shaft being extended and bent laterally, a spring joined to the upper end of said shaft and said gate, means for rotating said hinge-shaft so as to carry said upper end rearward across the plane of the gate, and stop-posts for limiting the movement of the gate, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a horizontallyswinging gate, a stop-post, and latch mechanism, of means for simultaneously drawing the gate toward said stop-post and unlocking the latch mechanism, substantially as described.

6. The combination of a gate, ahinge-post and a vertical hinge-shaft joining said gate and said post, the upper end of said shaft being extended and bent laterally, a spring joined to the upper end of said shaft and said gate, means for rotating said hinge-shaft so. as to turn said upper end rearward across the plane of the gate, stop-posts for limiting the movement of the gate, and latch mechanism for securing the gate to said stop-posts, substantially as described.

7. The combination with a horizontallyswinging gate, and a post against which said gate rests when closed, of a spring drawing said gate at the side at which the stop-post is located, a member to which said spring is attached, means for moving said member away from said gate and said stop-post and then across the plane of said gate, whereby greater pulling force is exerted upon said gate in the direction of said stop-postimmediately before pulling force is exerted upon said gate in the opposite direction substantially as described.

8. A horizontally-hinged gate, a stop-post for engaging said gate when closed, a spring attached by one end to said gate and by the other to a tension member, such a tension member mounted upon a vertical axis, and mechanism for revolving said member partially around said axis froma point at one side of the plane of said gate rearward across the plane of said gate, substantially as described.

9. The combination of a horizontally-s winging gate, a stop post, latch mechanism, a spring attached by one end to said gate and by the other end'to a shiftable member, and a latch-cord secured by one end to said latch mechanism and by its other end to said spring at a point intermediate the'ends of said spring,

substantially as described.

10. The combination of a hinge-post, the gate, a hinge-shaft, 0, extended laterally at its upper end, a swivel-post mounted upon said end, and a spring having one end joined to said swivel-post and the other end to said gate, substantially as described.

11. The combination of a hinge-post, the gate, the hinge-shaft, 0, extended laterally at its upper end, a swivel-post mounted upon said end, a spring having one end joined to said swivel-post and the other end to said gate, and means for rotating said shaft so as to carry said swivel rearward and across the plane of the gate, substantially as described.

12. The combination of a hinge-post, the gate, the hinge-shaft, 0, extended laterally at its upper end, a swivel-post mounted upon said end, a spring having one end adjustably joined to said swivel-post and the other end to said gate, and means for rotating said shaft 7 5. the plane of the gate, substantially as deso as to carry said swivel rearward and across and crank-shaft, a yoke mounted upon said crank-shaft and extending along one side of said rocking lever, substantially as described. 14. The combination of a rocking lever, a crank-shaft, and an adjustable yoke mounted upon said crank-shaft and surrounding said rocking lever, substantially as described.

15. The combination of a crank-shaft, a rocking lever loosely secured to said crankshaft and having arms extending away from said crank-shaft in opposite directions from the point of attachment between said lever and crank-shaft, a yoke mounted upon said crank-shaft and extending along one side of said rocking lever, and mechanism applied to said yoke for restoring the crank-shaft to its normal position, substantially as described. 16. The combination of a rocking lever, a crankshaft, an adjustable yoke mounted upon said crank-shaft and surrounding said rocking lever, and a spring applied to said yoke for restoring the crank-shaft to itsnormal position, and mechanism for varying the tension of said spring, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

TERELIUS ALLEN HILL. 

